One year on and 1000+ subscribers, what is Renewables in Africa’s (RiA) Vision?

**Siwezi kusema Kiswahili…but I was important to say in few words in Swahili to salute Kenya. Why? Well, I have to say as an African it is the first time that I witness an election being annulled in the continent. Don’t get me wrong, I am not having a partisan view and certainly not taking any side here (sorry but my knowledge in Kenyan politics is rather poor to say the least) but acknowledging a fact! A sovereign Supreme Court that is exercising its duty in visibly all independence and in the midst of tense and hot political climate (excuse the pun)? Simply beautiful and impressive to see. This is what you call building strong and honest institutions for the greater good.

That was a quick political tangent, now back to our business.

Friends! We are living at exciting times for RiA! We are celebrating our FIRST Anniversary and we are doing it in grand style!! We have crossed a milestone, with MORE than 1000 subscribers! We are working harder but more importantly smarter to make Renewable Energy stronger in Africa. We could not do that alone and we would like to express our gratitude to you, RiA supporters, RiA-Ders!!

You’ve embarked on a journey with us, but do you know exactly what is the Vision we are pursuing? Been very clever, I am sure you’ve guessed but let me remove the eventual persisting clouds and make it even sunnier!! Just promise me one thing, you won’t jump ship afterJ.

What is our Vision?

RiA’s vision is to Transform Africa and Africans lives by leveraging the Power of Renewable Energy. Simple! How are we doing it? By raising Awareness through this platform about Clean Energy in Africa and disseminating the information, mainly specific to the continent to the industry, businesses and the general public. Maybe not so well known, through our engineering consultancy offering, we are also providing advisory services and solutions to various industry stakeholders.

RiA’s vision is to “Transform Africa and Africans lives by leveraging the Power of Renewable Energy”.

Knowledge is (literally) Power and by sharing lessons learnt, best practices and new developments on the subject of Renewable Energy in Africa, we are hoping to contribute to closing the knowledge gap that is currently persisting. We have started this journey after experiencing for ourselves in the field that Education was visibly needed for better engagement with local businesses and populations and one thing we can definitely confirm from your outpouring support is that we may have touched a sensible nerve.

Could we really transform Africa through Renewable Energy? Absolutely! We strongly believe we are in the midst of a new revolution and you only have to travel to places like Kenya and Tanzania to see this new reality unfolding. Trust me, they have much more than Lupita Nyong’o and the Obama family!

Figure 1 – Man and Woman celebrating a bright Vision

First Anniversary, where are we now?

We are marking our First Anniversary and we have learnt a lot from this year. Developing our style, engaging with our audience (1000s subscribers, Woohoo) and also getting to know more about topics that interest you while keeping track of our vision. Ok, I will not paint for you a fairy tale, I suspect you had enough of Frozen but despite a number of disappointments progress has been fast and impressive even to our ourselves. Again, credit to your RiA supporters and sympathisers. Starting our second year in existence there are two initiatives we have taken:

New Blog’s Design

Oh yes!! RiA has a new design. Not that we did not like the previous one but there is always a room for improvement and also, we have listened to your feedback. We are hoping the new style is more engaging, offering you new features like popular categories, telling you the number of articles by different categories. So should you want to contribute (why not? Afterall this is a space for us to communicate) you might decide to choose a particular category, where your expertise lies. I could predict you that in the coming weeks you would see additional contributors! So Watch this space!

The new design still offers you traditional features like the upcoming events and the generous TICKETS DEALS that are associated. Do you know for example that you could get a 15% RiA discount for Solar & Off-Grid Renewables EAC & SADC? And a 5% RiA discount to attend the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum in Hong-Kong organised by GOGLAand Lighting Global? So do the right thing and buy from us. By doing so, you are also supporting and encouraging us to keep acting on your behalf and negotiate sweet deals.

There many more features to see including a gallery of pictures and I would leave it to you to make your own mind of the new look. Just one thing, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

Advisory Board

YES!! We are taking our vision and mission seriously and we have set up an advisory board to help us navigate our way forward and upward. Would you want to know who are these famous advisers? I was tempted to play a commercial at this stage but don’t worry I am not that cruel… well not today! So who are the RiAdvisers?

Tchi Mbouani Ngaliae is a Digital Management Expert and an Entrepreneur who has gained her experience through her extensive experience with the likes of AOL, GE or Google. Her knowledge of the digital industry is definitely an invaluable asset for Renewables in Africa.

Nzube Ufodike is an Entrepeneur, Senior Business Analyst and a Corporate Finance Specialist who has made a name for himself in the Fintech industry. Having collaborated with Nzube in the past, it was a no-brainer for the RiA team to ask him to join our board.

Owusu Akoto is as we gently called him, Mr “Billion-dollar consultant”. We are very fortunate (By the way we have created this green chance, lol) to have a privilege to work with a world-class management consultant who has helped clients like Uniliever, Diageo or IBM. I would like to think we are the biggest company and brand he has been working with so far but I am reminded that modesty is a virtue at RiA and we should not offend other companies?.

Figure 2 – Team Advisory Board

New Partnerships

We keep plugging in into the industry, engaging with other organisations to take our vision and message further and carry on delivering on our mission. As announced recently, we have joined the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) and have very recently agreed to collaborate with Spintelligent for the promotion of a series of important Clean Energy Conferences in Africa. First one to come: Future Energy Central Africa, 2-3 Oct, Yaounde, Cameroon. Close to heart!

RiA will be there! Stay Tuned!!

***Tutaonana

*Jambo! Habari Gani?: “Hello! How are you?” in Swahili

** Siwezi kusema Kiswahili: “I don’t speak Swahili” in Swahili

***Tutaonana: “See You Later” in Swahili

Swahili is a Bantu language spoken in Tanzania, Burundi, Congo (Kinshasa) Kenya, Mayotte, Mozambique, Oman, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, UAE and the USA. Around 5 million people speak Swahili as a native language, and a further 135 million speak is as a second language.

Swahili has official language status in Tanzania and Kenya and is also widely spoken in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Comoros Islands. It’s also spoken by smaller numbers in Burundi, Rwanda, Northern Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

Fact important, Swahili is one of the working languages of the African Union and officially recognised as a lingua franca of the East African Community (Sources: Omniglot and Wikipedia).

Summary:

What should remember from this post? Well, in an ideal World (RiA-Planet) everything but if you are a citizen from Earth, 5 main points:

RiA celebrates FIRST Anniversary and crossed a Milestone: 1000+ Subscribers

Our Vision: Transforming Africa and Africans lives by leveraging the Power of Renewable Energy

RiA new design: check features like Most popular, Services, Upcoming Events